Living Better with Less

About

My name is Ellen and I’m a wife, working mother, and former home owner.

Over the course of a year I began to realize how far I was living from what I said were my priorities and values. There were bad habits: spending too much money on restaurant meals and convenience foods, and then bemoaning my bad diet, which was compounded by a sedentary lifestyle because the only way to fit the gym in after eight hours in a cubicle is to get up early or stay up late and I had no energy (because of my sedentary lifestyle and bad diet). There was guilt: all that convenience packaging, not keeping up with my friends and family, mostly following the law but otherwise not being much of a citizen or good community member. And there was the feeling that my life was a lot of work and not a lot of fun.

As I looked around at what I might change, I saw a whole lot of stuff that was taking up space, time, money, and psychic energy. And the more I thought about getting rid of stuff—both tangible and intangible—the more convinced I became that doing so would help me right my life’s course.

I started this blog in July 2013 to keep myself accountable to my goals and to connect with others who are trying to live better lives with less. Here’s a little more about me and why I hope you’ll share your journey, too (You, and me).

When I created the blog last July I was excited about the possibility of working as a consultant with people who want to simplify, especially people who are in the early stages and have a home full of stuff. So I chose a theme that was simple, was not designed to showcase images I couldn’t deliver, and offered an easy way to expand content if I wanted to add information about my consulting services (that idea on indefinite hold). I paid for a custom WordPress theme because I didn’t think the free themes offered enough choice in color, font, or organization of widgets.

I thought once or twice about selecting a new theme or otherwise prettying up my blog, but content is the most important and it’s been a challenge for me just to keep up with posting even though I think about simplifying all the time.

Hi Ellen, it’s a reainy cool day where i am, and i sat down and read your entire blog…i enjoyed it thoroughly and now have many new links you suggested, to follow up on…and lots of great new ideas for simplifying my own llife! Thank you…one small comment….it is hard to navigate your archives….a list of all the previous months would make it so much simpler. My idea was to begin at the beginning and move through you journey with you…but it was surprisingly unwieldly to do that…hope you will accept the constructive suggestion for simplification! Keep writing!

Thanks for reading! And thanks for the comment about navigation — I think I experienced that frustration myself (I occasionally look back at what I’ve written). I’ll see if it’s something I can change within the template.

Okay — I deleted the calendar/archives widget (who’s going to search content by date anyway?), and now posts can be read in order by simply scrolling. Thanks for the nudge to make the site easier to navigate.